Skills and Fools
by Shadows Run
Summary: KOTOR 2, the Exile works on her skills with Atton. Maybe Atton doesn't have to hate droids...


Atton sighed. God that Exile knew how to provoke his thoughts. She was spending more time with Bao-Dur, working on her skills with computers and repairs. It was that old witch again. She'd talked to Korena for an eternity, (likely talking both her ears off) about skills developed away from the Force. How she shouldn't depend on her companions for their specific skills to compensate for her lack. What lack was the witch talking about?

Korena had talked with Atton about what Kreia had said. She'd almost come right out and apologized for dragging him along when she needed to use his skills. Atton wondered she was discouraged about making him happy but didn't say anything as she strode off to the garage of the Ebon Hawk. She probably didn't know helping her, the last of the Jedi, was the only thing that made Atton feel like he belonged on the ship. He wondered if she only brought him along for his skills.

The only plus of this sudden interest in machinery was her outfits. She wore tighter clothing (not robes) after the tail of her dark robe got stuck in that cargo cylinder of a utility droid. That was a riot. She retired to the garage with Bao-Dur for a few hours after her third failed attempt at a memory upgrade with a much shorter robe, cut off with an un-Jedi like singe.

Atton started when he heard the screaming of the droid's vocabulator and Korena's voice just under it in pitch and volume.

"Look, if you don't stop screaming, your vocabulator-" Atton chuckled and toned the ensuing conversation between droid and frustrated Jedi out. He toned his smirk down when she plopped into the chair beside him.

"Something up?" Atton asked, just turning his head to acknowledge her.

"I've had it with trying to upgrade memory cores. Could you do me a favor?" Korena asked.

"What kind of favor?" Atton asked.

"The kind of favor that you never tell anyone about." Korena said, smiling. She had a smudge of grease on her cheekbone and Atton smiled.

"Maybe. What's that kind of favor worth?"

"A lot. T3, will you come here please?" Korena called, leaning her head back to throw her voice to the hall leading to the cockpit. Atton watched the droid putter in and ignored the series of beeps and shrill noises that she somehow translated to rational thought. He admired the skill of that kind of translation, admired but not envied.

"What's the cargo cylinder want?" Atton asked.

"Could you help me? I've got enough skill with repair but I don't have the computer skills." Korena asked, kneeling by the droid, looking up at Atton with her blue eyes. They were so dark and he'd never seen such a genuine plead for help. She always asked but she'd never been so unsure of his willingness to aid her.

"Bao-Dur too busy for ya?" He knelt by her and let her open the droid's side panel as it shut down.

"No but I haven't worked with you for a while, and even if I don't rely on your skills, I miss you." She smiled and glanced at him, flushing at the admission. "I feel bad, hearing you play Pazaak in your head when I could spare some time to at least talk."

"Ah huh, so you put me to work instead." Atton smiled at her flush.

Atton worked with the Exile for what felt like a serene, heaven like eternity. He reached around her, brushing his face close to hers to flip one last switch as she shut the last panel on T3. He left his arm around her as T3 buzzed back to life.

"How's that feel?" She asked, her eyes bright. He was amazed at how attached she was to T3 and the homicidal, rusted red droid. She cared about a droid's feelings. She cared whether they got scrapped. Atton remembered her expression when she found HK broken and disassembled in the cargo hold. She remembered the expression she held when he buzzed to life. Heartbreak and the spark of life in her eyes from the spark of life she created. God she was beautiful.

"He even sounds better." Atton commented. T3 buzzed something, most likely an insult. Korena stroked his head (was it a head?) and he puttered off, the cockpit door shutting behind him. Atton wondered why the door shut when it'd been jammed for the past several weeks. (He knew because that led to several rude awakenings.) Korena had noted the gentler, droid liking Atton and smiled. She leaned against his arm and regarded him without her stoic Jedi expression. Even without her emotionless, Jedi face, he only knew that she was thinking. He recognized a softer expression and heard the soft sigh.

"Beginning to like droids a little better?" She asked. She wouldn't usually hang around after a quick game of Pazaak or meaningless chatter. Atton enjoyed the serenity dripping off of her as she leaned against his arm.

"Yeah. You're starting to rub off on me." Atton said.

"I think it's the other way around." Korena said.

"I hope not, for your sake." Atton said, laughing. The "fool" rubbing off on Kreia's Exile would not be appreciated.

"I remember when we were headed for Telos, T3 was stuck in the hall, just beyond the cockpit. I saw you get him loose and you did something to the wiring in his, feet, to fix it. You told him if he got stuck again, you wouldn't unstick him except to scrap him." She was looking into his eyes.

"Yeah, I don't usually use my computer skills for droids. I never really thought about it until you asked, you know, since they're all so confident in their abilities and have a sever disliking for any meatbag talent." He rubbed his neck with his hand, removing it from where she leaned on him. She rested her back on the floor and looked up at him with the same expression she'd been wearing that Atton couldn't interpret.

"I missed spending time with you. You're," She blinked and her eyes lashes fluttered, making Atton's stomach perform a similar motion, "different than the others."

"You know how you said this was worth a lot to you Kor?" He said, gazing down at her.

"Yeah." She said.

"I'm calling in the favor now. What does that face you're making mean?" Atton asked.

"It means I want you to kiss me and I'm very tired of waiting."

Atton didn't make the Exile wait any longer.

He shivered as he leaned down, close to her face, their noses touching. She reached a hand into his hair and sighed as her fingers gripped the back of his head. Atton brought his lips to hers and eased down onto her. She smiled at him as he took his lips back.

"Do you know how long I've wondered when you would do that?" She asked. She looked very relieved and Atton brushed a tear from her cheek. He wondered how he could make her so happy.

"I didn't know you cared." Atton said, swallowing. She smiled and her eyes glittered.

"Then you are a fool."


End file.
